"HOLDING POWER to Account' is an appropriate theme for this year's Bloody Sunday commemoration," The Bloody Sunday Weekend Committee said this week, "when remembering those who died on Derry's streets in January, 1972, and those still dying every day in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the so-called War on Terror."
"Hooding, sensory deprivation and torture - the 'deep interrogation' of prisoners was practised by the British Army at Girdwood and Palace barracks long before Abu Graib or Bagram Airbase became torture centres."
The statement came as final prepar
ations got underway in the city for a host of commemorative events to mark Bloody Sunday's 35th anniversary last week.
The committee said that the failure to hold power to account for what is done today has consequences for tomorrow.
"The two soldiers convicted of the murder of Belfast teenager Peter Mc Bride and then allowed to rejoin their regiment were then posted to Basra, in Iraq. The message to other soldiers? The British Army will support child killers."
The spokesperson added: "The most senior officer in the British Army today, and who led the attack on Iraq, is General Mike Jackson. Though on duty in Rossville Street on Bloody Sunday he has stated that he "did not see any soldiers firing their weapons".
"There was a failure to hold power to account for Bloody Sunday, and 35 years on British troops are murdering people in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Artwork
Each year on the weekend of the Bloody Sunday commemoration the people of Derry and beyond have an opportunity to both remember the victims and their families and to reach out in solidarity to other groups and people who are engaged in their own struggles., the committee said.
"In each of these struggles there are people who have inspired, iconic figures who symbolise the fight for justice against enormous odds."
This year, the route of the march will be decorated with images of some of these people. The Bloody Sunday Weekend Committee have revealed that these images will be interspersed with images of the Bloody Sunday victims. As the families and the wider Derry community await the outcome of the Saville Report, they say it is important to remember the human costs amid all the legal machinations.
"Fourteen Derry families lost a son, a husband, a father, a brother. Whether in the Bogside in 1972 or Basra in 2007, abuses of power must be challenged and held to account."
See page nine for more info on the week's events
